Studies of Pancreatic Function in Sjögren's Syndrome

Abstract

Two of 62 patients with Sjogren''s syndrome studied at the National Institutes of Health developed illnesses suggestive of pancreatitis and their case histories are reported here in detail. Post-mortem examinations of the pancreas in 1 of these 2 patients and in 3 others of this series revealed no significant pathologic changes, and, in particular, no changes consistent with those seen in the salivary and lacrimal glands of patients with Sjogren''s syndrome. Secretin tests performed on 11 other patients with this syndrome who had no clinical evidence of pancreatic disease revealed that after secretin injection there was a diminished volume of pancreatic secretion in 3 and a borderline response in 1. The maximal bicarbonate concentration in the pancreatic secretion after secretin injection was below normal in only 1 patient. Six of the 11 patients showed abnormalities of serum amylase after secretin injection. Whether these minor abnormalities of pancreatic function are attributable to the pathologic physiology of Sjogren''s syndrome remains to be elucidated.